News

Mix: AT&T, iAds, Warner Music, App Store

By Charles Starrett ● Monday, August 9, 2010

AT&T may be indicating that its iPhone exclusivity deal with Apple is nearing its end. In a recent 10Q filing, AT&T added new language citing the end of exclusivity agreements for a “number of attractive handsets.” The Wall Street Journal, citing CLSA’s Steven Fox, notes that the language was not in the company’s prior 10Q. In addition, AT&T also said that it does not expect any such exclusivity terminations to have “a material negative impact” on Wireless segment income.

Apple has added new functionality to iAds that lets developers sell apps directly from within iAds, eliminating the need to launch the App Store. 9 to 5 Mac reports that the new ads are essentially the equivalent of an App Store page, and that developers can use the money/credit they earn in iAds to promote their apps through the new advertisement type, helping Apple to fill ad slots.

Warner Music’s growth in revenue from digital music sales fell for the second year in a row, contrasting with iTunes’ growth over the same period to provide a small suggestion of how much app sales have meant to iTunes’ revenue. Asymco notes that Warner’s digital music revenues grew just 3.7 percent in the past quarter, leading CEO Edgar Bronfman Jr. to say that the company is looking “beyond the iTunes model” to boost growth. By contrast, Warner’s digital music revenues grew 4.5 percent a year ago and 39 percent the year before, while iTunes’ revenues have grown by 27%, 17% and 35% over the same periods, respectively.

Apple has altered its paid application contract to let developers offer education discounts on bulk app purchases. Mac|Life has posted the relevant language, which states, “[t]his amendment enables you to offer a 50% discount to education institutions on multiple copies of the same app as described in Section 3.1 in the amendment above. If you agree to participate, you can apply the discount to individual apps in the Manage Your Applications module, or you can apply it to all of your current apps at once.”